HOME ENTERTAINMENT : ‘Show Boat’ Sails 3+ Times in New Laser Set

If the Tony-laden Broadway revival of “Show Boat” has sparked your interest in the landmark 1927 musical, look no further than the just-released “The Complete Show Boat,” a four-disc laser set (MGM/UA, $125) that brings together in one lavish package every scrap of film dedicated to preserving the historic Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II musical.

It’s an impressive trip. But don’t expect any of the hard truths about racism in this country to be explored as fully as they are in the 1990s. These films document a time and a place when any sympathetic portrayal of African Americans was revolutionary on screen. In fact, you have to look quite hard to see the issue in the 1929 version, giving it a unique historic context.

Still, this never-before-available, nearly six-hour trip down the river is a memorable one featuring some of the greatest music ever written for the American stage.

The seven sides, left and right analog tracks and detailed notes include the rarely seen 1929 part-talkie Universal version (not even written about in some movie guides), the classic 1936 James Whale black-and-white Universal edition, the lavish 1951 Technicolor MGM extravaganza and the 1946 sequence from “Till the Clouds Roll By.”

Little has been spared in this full-scale history of the famous stage musical based on the 1926 Edna Ferber novel. Included on the analog tracks are a pithy commentary from George Sidney, who directed the 1951 Kathryn Grayson/Howard Keel/Ava Gardner edition, and surviving audio portions from the 1929 version, including a Helen Morgan recording of “Bill,” which she later sang in the 1936 film.

Another highlight of the analog track is Ava Gardner in a surprisingly moving version of “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” excluded from the film but released on record. Here, she also can be heard and seen in both that number and the haunting “Bill”--by switching from the film’s digital track to the audio track. The close-ups of Gardner are gorgeous.

After the film was completed, director Sidney reveals, Gardner sang to the soundtrack. “She had a very good vocal coach at home,” he recalls. “Sometimes we called him the leader because that’s how we all thought of him,” he says, slyly referring to her then-husband, Frank Sinatra.

Sidney also dispels the persistent rumor that Lena Horne was turned down for the role of Julie that Gardner eventually landed. “Horne was never up for the part,” he says, adding that “this mistaken legend” is “completely wrong” and “should be righted.”

Actresses who were considered for the role included Dinah Shore, Ginny Sims and even Judy Garland, but never Horne, he says, skipping over any of the racial overtones of the situation.

He calls Horne “a wonderful talent.” She was cast as Julie for the 1946 “Show Boat” segment of the Kern biopic “Till the Clouds Roll By” and, watching that excerpt here, it’s clear just how magnificent a talent Horne was. Her version of “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” is mesmerizing.

Just as compelling is the beautifully photographed 1936 black-and-white version featuring Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, the incomparable Paul Robeson singing “Ol’ Man River” and Helen Morgan as Julie. It’s easy to see why this is the version favored by most purists.

Having Sidney’s narrative on the audio track for the sumptuous 1951 version adds immeasurably, however, to that hour and 43-minute journey down the Mississippi, with Marge and Gower Champion featured as dancers Ellie and Frank, and William Warfield as Joe. Agnes Moorehead and Joe E. Brown round out the cast.

MGM, to assure its 1951 film success, totally suppressed viewings of the previous films until the 1970s. Even then, the 1929 version has remained virtually unseen until this laser reconstruction. Watching this longest version (1 hour, 58 minutes), the 1929 “Show Boat,” with Laura La Plante and Joseph Schildkraut, fascinates, even as it slides past much of the racism that is the show’s undercurrent. Emily Fitzroy’s over-the-top performance as Magnolia Hawks’ mother, Parthy, is typical of the period. And the fate of Cap’n Andy (Otis Harlan) may come as a surprise to those who only know the later versions.

The sound recording of the 1951 film for this laser set combines the best surviving optical elements and noise-reduction technology, newly remixed to stereo sound. All are digitally remastered from the best sources available in the MGM library and the Library of Congress.

Detailed album notes, unfortunately crammed onto one two-sided sheet along with chapter stops, are informative and helpful. This is the kind of laser-disc edition that shows the potential of the medium as an important historical force in preserving in one place many aspects of American culture.